Today marks the release of Guild Wars 2′s much-teased second Flame & Frost update, The Gathering Storm. The patch not only adds guild missions, a new PvP map and a continuation of the game’s Living Story, but also brings a change to paid PvP tournaments. Specifically, it removes them, instead relying on a more robust matchmaking system that will govern the remaining free tournaments.

“One of the reasons we initially introduced Paid Tournaments was to create a place for hyper-competitive, highly skilled players to find matches with other players of comparable skill, leaving the Free Tournament system available for more casual competitive play,” explains ArenaNet’s Tyler Bearce. Now that the matchmaking system can accurately place players of a similar skill level, that paid tier is no longer necessary.

After the update, 1-round and 3-round free tournaments will be available, each with a separate matchmaking rank.

Bearce notes that any remaining Tournament Tickets can now be exchanged for Gold, Silver or Copper reward chests at the Ticket Merchant NPC, next to the Tournament Master in Heart of the Mists.

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Kickstarter link

Grumpy Owl Gamery is launching the integral pieces of their Keep System – a method for organizing and mobilizing your favorite hobby games. The Keep is a custom messenger style bag that carries a set of special game organizers. It can carry numerous games, even the hard to handle expandable games, in an organized and labeled manner.

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Some people need to see things for themselves. If our Tera review wasn’t enough to convince you one way or another if the new action-combat MMORPG from EnMasse Entertainment is for you, you can test it out yourself with no commitment.

EnMasse teamed up with Gaikai to offer their new demo through your browser, with no download.

The demo allows you to play through the tutorial area of the game on three different classes. It’s more useful than it might sound: Tera’s tutorial area gives you a level 20 version of the character to sample more of that classes’ abilities before investing time into them. It only takes about 15-20 minutes to complete one playthrough, but the demo will cut off slowpokes after 30 minutes.

I had no problem accessing the demo after a quick Java update and the game played remarkably smooth for being in a different state than the PC running the game. There was a slight delay in my character’s responses to my keyboard input–which is more painful in such a timing-heavy game–but it really wasn’t too bad.

The video being streamed to you is obviously highly compressed, so don’t take the graphics at face value. Find screenshots and high quality video online if you want to see what the game looks like when it’s installed.

Although it’s a small chunk of content, being able to jump into the game and try out the combat firsthand with no download is a great option for gamers still on the fence.

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If you’re looking for something new to play this weekend, why not waggle a lightsaber in Star Wars: The Old Republic? A four day free trial kicks off tomorrow for those who haven’t sampled one of the other free trial events that Bioware have been running recently.

As with those previous free weekend events, you won’t need to feed your credit card details to Bioware’s hungry Treasury Rancor (Bankor?) to get in, and you’ll be able to get to level 15 and participate in PvP and flashpoints. Full details on the Star Wars: The Old Republic site.

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A free trial for Star Wars: The Old Republic ran last week, but not everyone got a chance to play. On the Bioware blog, the devs announce that they’re kicking off another free trial weekend today for those who weren’t involved in the last one. It’s set to run until Monday at 2:00 am CDT / 7:00 am GMT and you can sign up now on the Star Wars: The Old Republic site.

This trial is for new players only, however. “Participants in the previous Weekend Pass Free Trial and any other free trials are not eligible for this upcoming Weekend Pass Free Trial period,” say Bioware. Like the last trial, it’ll let you create a character of any class and run through their origin story. If you progress far enough you’ll get to see the capital planet as well, that’s Coruscant for Republic players, and the dark, stormy world of Dromund Kaas for the Empire.

The client’s pretty big, so you’ll want to start the client downloading soon if you want to get in before the free trial ends. If you want to meet up with some PCG guildies while you’re trying out the game, join the Nightmare Lands server and look out for the PC Gamer Mint Imperials (EU), or hop into The Crucible Pits and look for the Coconut Monkeys (US).

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Funcom have just announced that they’re making a LEGO Minifigures MMO. It’ll be based on the extensive collection of LEGO Minifigures which includes brides, mummies, baseball players, and one called “Gorilla Suit Guy.” He carries a banana.

It doesn’t sound like the Minifigures MMO will be aimed at the min-maxers. Instead Funcom are focussing on “maximum accessibility” and working closely with the LEGO Group to produce a “broad and enhanced experience.”

“The market for family-friendly online experiences intended for children and youngsters is brimming with potential,” says Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. “Being able to work with a world-renowned brand such as the LEGO® brand to develop an MMO for this audience is incredibly exciting to us as game developers and for Funcom as a company.”

Here’s hoping that Funcom’s MMO doesn’t suffer the same fate as the last LEGO-based MMO. Josh enjoyed LEGO Universe, but it got closed down in January due to a dwindling subscriber base. For more on that, check out his interview with the devs and retrospective on the tricky transition to free-to-play.

Funcom are also due to release a modern-day, non-plastic, MMO next week. The Secret World is due for launch July 3rd. That’s a far more serious affair set in a world where “every myth, conspiracy theory and urban legend” is true.

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Perfect World Entertainment wants you to see the great outdoors—then slay the gigantic monsters that populate the world of RaiderZ. This MMO is fashioned after the wildly popular Monster Hunter series, and is definitely one we’re keeping our eyes on. But why not play it while you keep tabs on its humongous baddies?

The RaiderZ alpha key comes with a few great perks:

• Guaranteed Alpha access
• Guaranteed Closed Beta access
• An exclusive armored wolf mount

 
You’ll also get to try out the new Defender fighting style. The shield-wielding method of anti-evil features well-rounded skills allowing for increased monster dicing with a sword or more vitality and defense with a skull-crushing mace. His skills include Strike of Gale, an uppercut that lowers enemy defenses, and Shield Rush, a counter-attack that stuns and immobilizes all sorts of giant-bad things. So what are you waiting for? These monsters aren’t going to kill themselves.

To deliver the codes (while they last), we’ve teamed up with our pals at GamesRadar. Head over to our shared giveaway page and log into (or create) a GamesRadar account–which quite honestly takes as much time as you just spent reading this sentence. Follow the instructions there, and you’ll be well on your way towards tackling monsters that are roughly five stories tall.

Why so serious Mr. Wolf?

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BioWare just announced their plans for the next 6 months of The Old Republic at EA’s big E3 press conference. They will be increasing the new MMO’s level cap, adding Cathar as a playable species, and a whole new planet, new to Star Wars canon, to explore. For gamers not playing TOR, the devs are adding a limited free trial that allows you to play the entire game up until level 15 free.

Cathar are a cat-like people that walk on two feet and have a history of being force sensitive in Star Wars lore. You can read more about them on the Cathar Wookieepedia entry.

The new planet being added to the game seems to be entirely new, however–all we really know so far is that it’s called Makeb.

UPDATE 5:34 PM: We got in touch with BioWare to learn more about Makeb and here is what they told us: “A fully-realized world for you and your friends to explore, Makeb will also introduce an all-new storyline. The Hutt Cartel, tired of being ignored by the great powers of the galaxy, has taken Makeb in an attempt to acquire an unmatched power which can bring both the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire to their knees. It will be up to you and your allies to face off against the Hutt Cartel, breaking their hold on this once tranquil world and end their bid for galactic domination.”

There’s no word on how high the level cap will increase the maximum level of players, but the new levels will come with new abilities for every class. I’ve already heard a lot of complaints from current raiders and PvPers. Most are upset because a level cap in MMOs means that the existing endgame gear–earned through long nights of raiding and PvPing–will be rendered practically worthless. It might be a bit premature to assume this will be the case in TOR as well, since we have so few details–but that rinse-repeat cycle is indeed how gear progression has occurred with pretty much ever other MMO’s level cap increase.

BioWare also announced that players will be able to collect an HK companion–an assassin droid series made famous by the rude, abrasive companion that repeatedly referred to humans as “meatbags” in Knights of the Old Republic.

A new space combat mission (Space Station Assault) looks to imitate the feeling of the movies’ iconic Death Star trench attacks. A new Operation, Terror From Beyond, brings those massive centipede monsters I mentioned earlier and all sorts of other creepy baddies. A new PvP WarZone, Ancient Hypergates is also planned.

The final slide of the trailer shown at the presentation also revealed that BioWare will be launching a free trial for The Old Republic that’s similar to World of Warcraft’s: letting you play for free up to level 15 with no time restriction.

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You put in your time with the family. You ate the cookies, you sat by the fire, you pretended that you could hear whatever grandma was mumbling just fine. But now it’s you time. With skill-shot combat and an adorable anime-esque visual style, Nexon’s action-MMO Dragon Nest is the perfect way to enjoy the rest of your holiday break. Battles aren’t just passive skill rotations—you’ll need to dodge attacks and string together combos if you want a chance at surviving. Yeah, cake-induced blood sugar spikes might set your reflexes back a bit, but you can give yourself an edge with a free digital bundle of Dragon Nest loot from Nexon itself.

To snag your new swag, just head to the counterpart post at GamesRadar and follow the instructions there. You’ll have a leg-up over the competition when you net your 5-slot Adventurer’s Bag, extra storage, HP and MP potions, and some resurrection scrolls—the perfect set of items to get your heroic journey started.

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We’ve been talking to EVE Online senior producer, John Lander, about the decline in subscription-funded gaming. In the past year the free-to-play model has dominated the PC MMO market but, as John mentions in the video, CCP have never considered it a viable option for their massively multiplayer space opera.

We recently asked every CCP man we could find whether DUST 514 is coming to PC. They didn’t quite manage to deny it.

Do you still pay for a subscription MMO?

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